Increasingly preparation machines for the preparation of a beverage or foodstuff are configured to operate using a container that comprises a single-serving of a preparation material, e.g. coffee, tea, ice cream, yoghurt. The machine may be configured for preparation by processing said material in the container, e.g. with the addition of fluid, such as milk or water, and the application of mixing thereto, such a machine is disclosed in PCT/EP13/072692. Alternatively, the machine may be configured for preparation by at least partially extracting an ingredient of the material from the container, e.g. by dissolution or brewing. Examples of such machines are provided in EP 2393404 A1, EP 2470053 A1, EP 2533672 A1, EP 2509473 A1, EP 2685874 A1.
The increased popularity of these machines may be partly attributed to enhanced user convenience compared to a conventional preparation machine, e.g. compared to a manually operated stove-top espresso maker or cafetiére (French press).
It may also be partly attributed to an enhanced preparation process, wherein preparation information specific to the container and/or preparation material therein is: encoded in a code on the container; read by the preparation machine; used by the machine to optimise the preparation process. In particular, the preparation information may comprise operational parameters of the machine, such as: fluid temperature; preparation duration; mixing conditions.
Accordingly, there is a need to code preparation information on the container. In particular there is a need to encode large amounts of information as preparation processes increase in complexity due to the development of more sophisticated machines, which are able to prepare a wide-range of foodstuff or beverages. Various such codes have been developed, an example is provided in EP 2594171 A1, wherein a periphery of a flange of a capsule comprises a code arranged thereon. The code comprises a sequence of symbols that can be printed on the capsule during manufacture. A drawback of such a code is that its encoding density is limited, i.e. the amount of preparation information that it can encode is limited. A further drawback is that the code is highly visible and may be considered aesthetically displeasing. EP14168061 discloses a similar code with similar such drawbacks. EP2525691B discloses a container with a 2D barcode, which has a higher albeit limited encoding density.